'Once' a couple, now musical partners

August 06, 2010|By Nina Metz, Special to the Tribune

Sometimes all it takes for a movie to hit is a bit of authenticity.

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova were relatively obscure folk-rock musicians in the spring of 2007 when their Dublin-set romance "Once" opened in theaters. The low-budget indie somehow straddled the line between chaste and unexpectedly intimate, and the huge success of the film turned its stars into household names — and, for a time, they became a couple in real life.

Though it wasn't the movie's original intent, "Once" became a helluva marketing vehicle, as well; Hansard and Irglova's band The Swell Season has evolved into the kind of top-selling act that can pack the joint at Ravinia, where they played just last month.

If "Once" marks the launching point in their career together, the pair's upcoming appearance Thursday at Lincoln Hall for a screening of the film is perhaps "a nice way to sort of put a cap on the whole experience in their lives," as rock critic and Vocalo blogger Jim DeRogatis put it recently.

The screening is the latest in a series of "Sound Opinions" movie nights organized by DeRogatis and Tribune rock critic Greg Kot (who co-host the weekly talk show of the same name on Chicago Public Radio). I'm sorry to report tickets are sold out, but the live appearance by Hansard and Irglova will be videotaped and made available roughly a week later on music.wbez.org.

According to Kot, Thursday's event will be "kind of off-the-cuff in some ways." Nothing has been set in stone, but the night has the makings of something unique and unrepeatable.

It's probably safe to assume Hansard and Irglova will play a few songs and sit for an interview. The conversation should be a good one — Kot and DeRogatis have a knack for insightful questions, and just enough time has passed for Hansard and Irglova to have some perspective on the way their relationship was documented on film, and how things have played out since.

Stylistically, the movie is a departure. With its naturalistic approach and softly soaring melodies, it never breaks from the story's reality for the sake of inserting a song, and it might be the first truly effective postmodern take on the movie musical. Made for a budget of around $160,000, it grossed some $20 million worldwide, and it is largely remembered for a single scene in a music store when Hansard (the frustrated street musician with a battered guitar) and Irglova (the tentative Czech immigrant on piano) play for the first time.

"That to me is one of the great scenes in movie musical history," Kot told me. "He teaches her the song and you think it's going to be a train wreck, but three minutes into this song there's a bond and a relationship that these people have that wasn't there three minutes before, and that was a very powerful moment for me."

For DeRogatis, the romance that develops on screen is "a bit too much of a chick flick for me to like it." But the movie works on another level: "It's key that they make music in real life. They're not acting" — in fact, these are actual musicians showing what a musical connection looks and feels like, and it's hard to know if the movie would work as well if it hadn't paralleled the personal and professional trajectory of its stars.

Hansard and Irglova split up in 2009, but continue to write and perform together as a band. As Kot put it, "I think they realized that, much like the movie, the real bond was the music and they've continued on in that spirit."

For more info go to soundopinions.org/events.

Spotlight

Common, the Grammy-winning Chicago native, just landed a starring role on the new AMC period drama "Hell on Wheels" as a freed slave who finds work building the Transcontinental Railroad. The rapper-turned-actor returns home for an appearance tonight at the opening ceremonies of this year's Black Harvest International Festival of Film and Video, which begins a monthlong residency at the Gene Siskel Film Center. For more info go to siskelfilmcenter.org.

Bang it

For those who prefer the halftime show to the game, "Big, Loud & Live 7" (also known as the Drum Corps International's World Championship Quarterfinals) will be beamed live at 5:30 p.m. Thursday to area movie theaters. For more info go to fathomevents.com.

Morning movies

Beleaguered parents, this one's for you: The "Kids Rule" summer series at suburban Marcus Theatres wraps up next week with 10 a.m. screenings of "The Karate Kid" on Wednesday and Thursday. Tickets are $2.75 and the popcorn's free. For more info go to marcustheatres.com and click on "promotions."

The fix

"Even if you doubt the severity of the impact of climate change or just don't buy it at all, this is still a compelling and relevant film," according to the Web site for the new documentary "Carbon Nation," which focuses on real-world solutions. The film screens at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park at 8:15 p.m. Tuesday (free!), with an appearance by the director, Peter Byck. For more info go to carbonnation.tv.